"It's John and the others and they're all banged up," Zephyr judged at a glance. "They must've just been through a fight. Question is: with who?"
Captain John, Wang Zhi, and Silver Axe were all high-ranking monsters in the Rocks Pirates. Whoever could leave them like that had to be frighteningly strong Zephyr's curiosity sharpened.
"Look there."
Sengoku frowned, eyes narrowing. "There's a fish-headed brute in their group. Rocks doesn't have anyone like that."
Slardar drew every eye: a nightmare visage, powerfully built, scale-plates flashing under the turning sun and moon. A frame that solid meant his strength would be no joke. Sengoku's guard went up.
"Sengoku," Garp said, itching for action, "Ares won't wrap up over there anytime soon. Let's clean up John and the rest first!"
He still had a simmering fire in his gut from taking Ares's knuckles to the face. Time to vent it.
"Do it."
Sengoku's tone hardened. "They're wounded. We strike together."
He sprang like a wolf straight at the injured Captain John.
Garp, ever drawn to the strongest foe, went for Slardar.
Zephyr veered toward Wang Zhi.
That left Silver Axe and Kaido… without dance partners. Ignored.
"John, I've got you!" Silver Axe hefted his great axe and charged Sengoku. John's wounds were bad leaving him solo against an admiral would end fast.
Being overlooked set Kaido's teeth on edge. He bellowed, "Today's the day I make my name!"
"From now on, no one underestimates Kaido!"
Ever since eating the Saru Saru no Mi, Mythical Model: Hanuman, he'd been burning to show it off.
Now his chance.
As he barreled toward Zephyr, thick fur burst from his skin and swept across his body. He thundered forward like a primeval beast four faces, eight arms, the ape-demon revealed.
The sight stunned the field.
Each of those eight arms knotted with muscle like forged iron rods monstrous power piled beneath a hide of coarse black hair. His fists drove syrupy shockwaves ahead of them, making the air heave
until the air itself cracked with sonic booms.
Zephyr's face changed. "A Mythical Zoan…?!" He whipped back dozens of meters; Kaido's heavy punches slammed into the earth where he'd stood.
Boom
Boom
Boom
Stone exploded; shrapnel fanned out like grapeshot. The ground shuddered as if afraid, fractures racing like spreading abysses.
Cold sweat crept down Zephyr's spine. "When did Kaido become a Mythical Zoan?! And that punch feels like that damned Garp's Iron Fist coming at me!"
And this was just Kaido's raw physique.
His Armament Haki? Nowhere near Zephyr's. If he added hardened haki to that, the power behind those fists… even the Navy's future admiral had no wish to find out.
The uproar dragged every gaze their way. Kaido's demon-ape bulk, the feral pressure rolling off him impossible to miss.
Sengoku's expression darkened; a bitter thought snapped through him. Damn it.
Kaido's a Mythical Zoan now and from the looks of it, this fruit's gift is… pure, unbeatable brute force.
He knew the type: every Mythical Zoan carried its own singular gift, beyond the base boosts of Zoans that's what made them kings among fruits.
Ares's Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Model: Azure Dragon elemental dominion.
Sengoku's own Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Model: Daibutsu destructive shock.
The Sea Siren Princess's Snake-Snake Fruit, Mythical Model: Medusa arcane sorcery.
There were others: the Phoenix's blue flames of rebirth, the Nine-Tails' perfect transformation, and so on.
Sengoku felt his heart sink into cold water. He ground his teeth. "Why do pirates keep getting the Mythicals and not the Marines?!"
If Garp or Zephyr had drawn a fruit like that, they'd bulldoze these Rocks officers today. Instead, fate damnable, unfair fate handed one to the enemy.
Across the melee, Wang Zhi exhaled in relief, eyes lighting at Kaido's eruption. "Nicely done! Didn't expect you to land a Mythical Zoan. You might be stronger than me now."
"With you here, facing Black Arm Zephyr is a lot less pressure."
Even in this chaos, Kaido's leap in power shocked him. For a heartbeat Wang Zhi saw Ares's silhouette in the boy the way the battlefield itself bent around him.
Kaido loomed a full head (or three) higher than Wang Zhi. He bared his teeth in a grin. "Worororo… call it fate. There's a flood of power roaring in me now!"
"I'm going to crush them one by one the fools who looked down on me!"
He'd been forged by Ares's demonic regimen for over a year, his body already surging ahead. Add a Mythical Zoan and he'd multiplied.
His raw strength had soared. More importantly, for someone already born to power, this fruit's unique gift was exactly his: invincible brute force.
He loved it. He thrived on it.
It fit him like a weapon made to measure.
For more than a year, Ares's radiance had eclipsed him. Before Ares joined Rocks, Kaido had been the crew's "monster-in-training." At ten, he was already the strongest warrior in the Vodka Kingdom. He'd carried plenty of halos of his own.
Now
The old Kaido, confident and defiant, was back.
He swung his gaze to the ongoing storm where Ares fought, and roared, "Ares-ani worororo see this?!"
"I can stand beside you now!"
The shout reached Ares. He flicked a glance over, took in Kaido's new form and a savage smile ripped across his scaled face. He threw his head back and laughed.
"Ha ha ha!"
"Kaido, I never doubted you!"
"Fight!"
"Let your blood boil show them all that you, Kaido, are a true MONSTER!"
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